Family
by c0ral
Summary: She'd think about her family sometimes, cocooned in her small room and surrounded by books. She'd always wanted one. But maybe she'd found one in this bunch of eccentric siblings. [updated; no more coding issues]


Among the many things Ava longed for, a family was maybe on top of the list, along with friends and maybe a romance.

She'd think about her family sometimes, cocooned in her small room and surrounded by books. She would read stories about adventurers and lovers, of friends and villains. But one thing that was always there was a family, and they were the one thing that the hero prized the most. She wished she could prize people like that.

Maybe friends would have been able to fill the gap her family had made when they weren't there for her anymore, but she didn't have any. She couldn't with that old witch living inside her head and torturing her everyday. The other girls had complained about Ava, who now had a small room to herself because no-one wanted to share with her.

Maybe she could have been adopted, but who would want a nut-case like her?

Ava felt she had no hope of a family. Ava, who didn't have a place to call home and people to call her family because she was just another orphaned kid, shifted from planet to planet, from here to there. Because she was just another kid who'd been admitted into a school for special children.

They didn't sugarcoat what they meant by "special", although the term itself was coated in sprinkles and syrup. She knew she was problematic, with her little malicious demon following her around and her sudden "outbursts".

She assumed that for her, home would always be these places she was sent to live, where there were dozens of other girls who wouldn't share a room with her, where her heart would never fit.

XOX

"We're h-here!"

Ava looked up, tired and groggy, and saw through the windows what was his planet.

No surprise it was full of pines, just like the smell of Odin's jacket had told her.

She'd changed out of it, the twins had been willing to give some of their own clothes to the girl, so she was now suited in what seemed to be the family shade of purple.

"Finally!" piped Raven (or was it Crow?).

"Surprisingly faster than I'd expected, too," Crow stated(she must've been Crow; Crow was the one who used big words).

"L-let's go," Odin said.

As Ava got up from the couch she'd been sleeping on, she hear snippets of conversation.

"Oh, you're so gonna get it from Olai!"

"Sh-shut up."

"I take dibs on your music collection when you're dead!"

"I said b-be quiet!"

"Hey, she's awake!"

All three turned to Ava, who'd been listening in. Apparently there was going to be a huge fight now.

"Um, hi."

Raven rushed up to her, pointing at the door, exclaimed, "We're here, sleepy! C'mon, I'll show you around!"

And with that, she grabbed Ava's arm and led her towards the house, followed by Crow.

Her eyes darted towards Odin, who was only shaking his head and muttering under his breath what Ava guessed to be something about his sisters being pests.

X

The house was big, for one. Bigger than she'd expected. The twins had urged Ava to come and join them to a trip to town, which was, apparently, about an hour's walk away.

Odin had managed came in that moment and shooed them off, telling them to stop bothering her.

"I hope they didn't disturb you t-too much," he sighed.

"No," said Ava, "I like them, they're nice. But I just want to rest right now."

Odin nodded his head.

Olai hadn't been home and she could see how anxious he was. He looked straight out nervous.

"You can t-take this room," he said, "It's empty, anyway."

Ava nodded. She looked around the room, it was spacious and dusty. A bed in the corner next to a window, where sunlight filtered through a pine tree's needle-like leaves, a chest of drawers and a table on the other side. There was an old vase on the chest of drawers. Ava made a mental note to maybe put a daisy or some flower in it.

It felt nice, having a room you didn't have to share with a bunch of other girls on bunk bed, she was thankful for it.

She didn't realize how much until Odin was about to leave the room.

"Odin?'

"Yeah?'

"Thanks for...y'know, the room."

An small silence passed between them. They stared at each other a while.

How come she never noticed how dark his eyes were?

When they both realized how long they'd been staring, Odin pulled his head away and said,"It's no p-problem."

X0X

Olai _had_ given that earful Raven had been promising her brother.

Ava heard the scolding from her room upstairs. She heard her name several times while it was going on.

The twins had come back from their trip around the evening, Crow looking flushed and happy, and Raven shooting her secretive looks.

"She got herself a date," whispered Raven to Ava later.

Dinner was nice. The third Arrow sister was an excellent cook apparently. Olai wasn't as intimidating as she'd imagined, at least not in his manners. He made polite talk, asked Ava where she was from, how she'd wound up meeting Odin (she was pretty sure he knew that already; maybe just wanting to hear another side of the story), what was her home planet.

She didn't see any parents around. Too embarrassed to ask, she'd drawn a conclusion they were probably gone on some trip.

As she lay there the first night, Ava felt warm in her chest. No, it wasn't lava about to spew out. It was the warmth when someone complimented you on something you pride yourself upon, the warmth when someone you like calls you a friend, that nice warmth when you do something good.

She liked that sort of warmth.

XOX

The next few days, Ava tried to do anything to distract herself from memories that spewed up in nightmares she was told the pact would ensure gone.

Odin and Olai were always out. Crow told her Olai was always busy, whereas Odin was going to be working to pay off the debt he'd inherited when the ship crashed. She felt bad for him then.

She gardened a lot, went to town with the twins, tried to help out.

She'd found out a lot about the Arrows in a few days.

They were famous, or maybe infamous, around town as the eccentric family always travelling. Ava wasn't surprised at that part.

Dinner was the best, because everyone was there, talking and exchanging news. When Olai wasn't there it was especially cheery; jokes and teasing and laughs. It made Ava remember how much she'd wanted a family. She'd grown up knowing only changing faces and friends that she could've made. But the Arrows _seemed_ to be a happy family, strange and, to be honest, weird, but a family.

She loved the house. It was set high, so you could see miles of forests beneath, and it was surrounded by the woods. Ava loved getting her Limbo Lenses out and looking at the weird creatures from there.

Odin caught her doing that once and asked why she was playing Peeping Tom to the trees. Ava told him to shut up.

For the first time in her life, Ava felt glad to be alive.

XOX

"When are you going to get working on my side of the pact?!"

Ava felt like Wrathia may just erupt into a bunch of flames.

She was hoping for it too, in case it meant her going away.

"AND I just know Pedri is around here somewhere!" Wrathia slammed her fist onto her vanity table. "Why haven't you been able to find him yet?!"

"Something probably wrong with your nose," Ava muttered. "I've been wearing your glasses each day and your freaky husband hasn't been there at all!"

"You're looking the wrong places, then!" Wrathia snarled.

Ava groaned.

On the bright side it was much better to have snark sessions with Wrathia than to face those horrible nightmares.

_'There is blue. Blue everywhere. Noises of machine are whirring but the loudest noise she can hear is the drip drip of blood trickling down the new Ava's body._

_Old Ava, no, _Ava_, is screaming in the corner.'_

She shuddered at the thought of those.

When Wrathia began to busy herself with makeup, Ava decided to wake up altogether. She'd found out a trick to doing that.

Pinching herself hard, Ava woke up in bed. She stared at the ceiling for a while, restless and bored, before deciding to do something about it.

Slipping on her shoes, she crept out of her room and went over to the balcony of the house. She didn't expect anyone to be awake, but someone was there, leaning on the rail and talking to themself. They were stuttering.

Ava had a pretty good guess whom it was.

"Odin?"

Odin flinched. He probably hadn't expected to be disturbed.

"Ava is th-that you?"

Ava nodded. He could see her; there were enough stars in the sky to illuminate everything. She remembered that on her old planet there had only been a handful of stars. She'd look through her bedroom window and count them. Over here, trying to count the stars was about as possible as measuring the amount of breaths you take in a day or counting the number of times you blink during a movie.

"Who were you talking to?" Ava asked.

"No one," he answered quickly.

Ava decided to shrug it off.

"Why are y-you here?"

"I couldn't sleep."

She looked up at the sky. Diamonds in the form of glittering stars were up there. She walked over to the railing and stood next to him, observing the stars.

A while later she smelt smoke, and she turned towards him.

"Why do you do that?" she questioned.

"Do what?"

"Smoke all the time."  
"It's c-calming," he replied, "Also fairly addictive in case you were th-thinking of t-trying it out."

"I wasn't."

"What's with all th-the questions?"

"You're asking one, too, right now."

"Touché," he said, "But how about we make a d-deal?"

"What?"

"I ask you th-three questions, and you do the same. Then n-no more."

Ava shrugged. "Fair enough."

"I'll g-go first. So what's with those glasses?"

"Huh?"

"Your p-pervert goggles."

Ava blushed. "I told you, they're not pervert goggles! They just help me…" Ava struggled for the right words. "…see things clearer."

"Alright so you first sniffed me, and th-then tried to look at me c-clearly?"

She rolled her eyes; a habit she'd picked up from Crow. "Next question."  
"What was that d-drawer thing you had?"

Now she was beginning to get annoyed. "Were these questions just so you could pry?"

"Y-yes. And that counts as a question by th-the way."

"It was rhetorical!" she shot.

"Whatever."

Ava sighed. "Well, I am a bit…different."

"Different?"

"It's a long story."

"I've got t-time."  
"I haven't."

"Alright," Odin said, "Last question."

"Shoot.  
"What's your f-favourite colour?"

"What?" Ava was confused.

"Well, it's just a casual question, r-really," he said.

"Red," she answered, "But, really, why did you ask?"

"Well, I didn't k-know what else to ask," he replied.

A silence passed between them.

"Ava, d-do you consider me a friend?"

Ava thought about it. He'd planned to leave her stranded on some distant planet and tied her up in his ship for one. Then again, he'd offered to let her stay on his own planet as a guest and they'd escaped TITAN's HQ together. And maybe she did enjoy talking with him, although they probably saw each other twice, maybe thrice, a day.

"Yes, I do," she said, after a bit, "Also, that was an extra question, by the way."

"Alright…Well, me t-too."

"My turn."

"Go on."

"Who did that ring belong to?" she asked.

"My mother." No backstory.

"Okay, well, what's _your_ favourite colour?"

"Black."

She thought about the third one.

"I like your family."

Odin raised his eyebrows. "Is th-that supposed to b-be a question or a statement?"

"I don't know. Both. None."

Odin took a drag of smoke. "Thanks, I guess."

"You guys fit in really nicely together. Even if you all fight and what not."

"What about your f-family?"

Ava winced at the question. "I…didn't get to spend so much time with them."  
"Oh, I'm s-sorry."

"It's okay." She sighed. "Also, looks like your deal didn't seem to work."  
"Yeah, p-pity." He was looking at her funny.

"What?" she asked, "Do I have something on my face?"

"Eh?"

"You were staring at me," she pointed out.

Odin turned away. "No, it was just…I thought I saw something behind you."  
Ava nodded once more.

None of them talked that much after that.

"Well," said Odin, finally, "I'm g-going back. Nice t-talking to you."

"Mhmm."

She watched him leave, and then turned her attention back to the stars, their shimmering smiles wrapping her in a world of her own thoughts. She would have liked to believe her planet was up there among them, but she knew better. And although that dreadful feeling of homesickness still lingered, she felt at home right here as well.

XOX

Olai narrowed his brows at Crow. "Where have you been going off to nowadays, exactly?"

Crow bit her lip and gave a satisfying, "Nowhere. I just decided I should take more walks around."

"Well, it's not exactly as though you lack fresh air and exercise, Crow."

Everyone at the dinner table held their breath, waiting for how he'd find out.

Eventually, it was Odin who gave a non-chalant, "Oh, she's just been d-dating some girl."

Ava looked at him, and under his usual stoic expression, saw a look of eagerness for Crow to get it.

Crow shot him a venomous glare.

"Is that true, Crow?"

"Y-yes."

"Then, you shouldn't have lied to me."

"Sorry."

Olai said nothing but gave a nod and returned to his meal. Crow smiled victoriously, Raven gave her a smile. Odin's face fell. Ava had to resist the urge to laugh.

Oh, she'd just about fallen in love with this family.


End file.
